Miss Murder
by xLucyxisxLovex
Summary: From her horns and red hair and eyes, she knew she was a freak. From her flute she knew she loved only music and her own existence. And from her ghostly hands? She knew she was meant to kill. Tayuyacentric, AU elements of Elfen Leid crossover Pairing?
1. Chapter 1

_"The Mouth of Justice is meditating wisdom, and his tongue is speaking of a sign. A happy man who suffers temptation, since he is with approval, they recieve the crown of life. Oh Lord, Fire by divine power, have mercy! Oh, how holy! How serene! How kind! How pleasant, oh Lily of chasitity."_ - English translation of first chorus of "Lilium", dervived from Latin.

--

**T**he forest was carved from Temari of Suna's slashing winds. Trees were scattered in chopped pieces, all littering the ground as Shikamaru Nara and Temari surveyed the wind sorceress's work. "Not even a sneaking Sound ninja could have dodged that attack," the pigtailed blonde girl smirked and she folded her fan and set it heavily beside her. Her navy eyes glittered teasingly as she looked behind her to the shocked Shikamaru. "How was that, slacker?" she grinned.

Shikamaru was sort of frozen in suprise. _As subtle as a rhino... _he tried grimacing but it turned into a small smile. _She might be scarier than my mom._ The lazy Nara genius started to open his mouth to suggest heading back and checking on their teammates. He was deeply worried about Chouji and the rest of the team that'd dropped behind to fight, and concerned for the loud Uzumaki idiot(who was kind of his friend, but he wouldn't say that.) That's when Temari started. "The hell...?"

"What's the matter with you?" asked Shikamaru. He felt very tired and drained, and his body itched from phantom wounds inflicted by the sharp-tongued Sound girl's genjutsu. He was still rather jumpy.

Temari's hand curled around her large iron fan again, hefting it up above her shoulder and unsheathing it so that two purple moons showed. "Stay cautious," she ordered in a tight voice. Her dark blue eyes narrowed, rolling across the mutilated landscape that left little to hide. Shikamaru had tensed at these words, knowing he wouldn't be able to put up any struggle at all if the enemy was planning another attack. As allies who had found equals in each other, he trusted Temari's skills more than his own tired senses and so with a kunai gripped firmly in his hand, Shikamaru craned his head to look around them.

"Your reserves are low, aren't they?" Temari asked in a much lower tone to stave off eavesdropping. Shikamaru quirked his dark eyebrows. "What reserves?" he asked. "I've reached my limit. Troublesome as it is, you are the only one of us who can fight right now. I could only offer strategy."

The pigtailed girl didn't look back over her shoulder but her hand tightened more over the fan. A sardonic smile unfurled across her face. "And how would that be helpful?" she asked. "I'm already a master strategist."

Her senses were frantic, scanning for anymore signs of the red-haired girl but while they turned up no evidence she was around them, Temari didn't doubt what she'd seen. However, waiting for the first move to strike her had never been to her tastes and so she grinned terribly. Sliding her fan into its sheath across her back, she turned back to Shikamaru, who eyed her doubtfully. "And now you what are you planning? If you haven't noticed, I'm no help, and I doubt anyone will send reinforcements after the reinforcement," said the genius. Temari snorted. "Please. As if they'd think I couldn't handle a puny little Sound girl. It's obvious you're too weak to move stealthily and I don't want to turn around and see you've been charmed by that damn flute if I leave you by yourself. Konohagakure's ninjas don't appear all that intelligent."

Shikamaru sort of deadpanned, though he knew they had to move fast and so conceded. "A bunch of touching talk. All right, fine. But your weapon will be too difficult to carry if I get on your back."

Temari grinned even wider and now offered her arms to him. Shikamaru looked caught between irritation and embarassment as he got the meaning.

"I never said anything about riding on my back, princess."

Shikamaru decided a couple moments later, that he could understand why women acted so bitchy all the time. If all newly-married husbands scooped their brides into their arms as insecurely as this, he better knew why they were so picky. Temari moved much quicker than he could and watching the ground whip by under him without actually in control, knowing that she could tip him over and let him drop like a stone if she chose to go back on Konoha and Suna's pact... Well, at least he kept a calm expression on his face. Temari didn't seem to be thinking of flinging him. Shikamaru figured there was a bit of clingy mothers in all girls, because the way she was holding him was vaguely reminescent of hot summers he spent in his mom's arms when he was too lazy and sweaty to move on his own.

"Enjoying yourself, slacker?" Temari asked above him dryly.

Shikamaru, who'd never liked summers anyway, responded in a thorough negative. His eyes fell to the ground again and this time, a blur of hot pink snagged his attention. Temari noticed it as well. She landed on a neatly-sliced tree stump, dropping Shikamaru uncerimoniously and whipping her fan out, sliding it open to two purple dots that symbolized moons. "Just won't die, eh flute gi-" She had started bringing the fan around as if it were a sword, to send sharp winds at the girl. Shikamaru stopped her and after studying the girl closer, she understood why.

The girl, while alive, was obviously unable of dealing out any harm. Pinned under the heavy debris of sliced trees, her head flopped back, letting hair a few shades darker than that Haruno's in Leaf Village stream down, uncapped by the black hat she'd worn so firmly before. The corners of her mouth leaked thin dribbles of blood and her sleeping face scored with many small scratches and a few deeper ones across her cheekbone. Unconscious, her crushed chest rose and fell feebly below the trees. Shikamaru walked closer to examine her and Temari tagged behind. He hesitantly pressed his fingers to her exposed neck. Under his fingertips thrummed a strong clear pulse.

Shikamaru lifted his eyes to Temari's and both saw the utter shock freezing the other's face. _How could she have survived? It's obvious from the damage done to the area that even a capable ninja would have died, and from the expression on her face, this has never happened before, _Shikamaru puzzled.

Breaking the stunned silence, the girl startled them again(Temari's hand flashed back to her fan)by giving a soft cough. More drops of blood dripped from her mouth, running upside down her face. Temari and Shikamaru locked their eyes again over her with a look.

"We were under orders to kill Orochimaru's subordinants," Temari said hesitantly. "But any information she could give us when awake could benefit both our villages easily. Especially if she was his confident."

_You just want to find out how she lived through your attack so you can perfect it. _"Also, it obvious like she got some internal injuries, at the least cracked ribs," Shikamaru added. "If she wakes up on the way back she won't be in any condition to fight or run away."

Temari smiled grimly. "Right. We could just knock her out again. We can pick up your teammates on the way back; Gaara and Kankuro-baka are with them still, most likely. They could guard her while we go on ahead."

The two agreed and started unwedging trees trapping the girl. When they pulled her out, Temari was irritated to learn she would be the one carrying her again and so shoved her(very heavy)fan into Shikamaru's arms, claiming they should carry similar weights. On the way back, they collected their unconscious/injured allies/friends/brothers and shifted their burdens into the others's hands and backs. Kankuro noticed two gleaming chips of bone tangled in the girl's long red hair. If he'd looked closer, he might have said they looked like broken horns and if they'd looked at the girl's scalp, they'd see two deep bloody gouges in her skull.

Unfortunately, Kankuro had never heard of a diclonous and none of them would understand its signifigance until much later.

* * *

(1) Of all the Elfen crossovers I've read with Naruto, it's always Sakura who's the diclonous, and I find that repetitive and boring. It also doesn't make that much sense; green eyes and no horns? But I wanted a xover between these two, so I dug a little deeper and found Tayuya. _Why_ has no one thought of this? The color's down pat. She has eye color around the general pigament. She seems to hate everyone. She wears a hat and when it's off we see HORNS. When Shikamaru was trapped in her genjutsu she uses ghostly hands in the illusion to torture him!(I think -sheepish smile- Haven't seen that episode in full.) I think she even resembles Lucy a little!(But that might be wishful thinking...) But henceforth, I decided in my own mind that Tayuya was a diclonous.

(2)Similar to Lucy, I'm going to have Tayuya adopt a second conscious. I'm stuck between having her revert to a childish personna(as in her child self), a Nyuu-like one(with no grasp of language, very trusting and helpless)or a different personality all-together. Like an Ino/Sakura one or something... Hmm...

(3)Unsure of pairings. I want Tayuya to get attached to _someone_. Personally, I'm thinking of Naruto, but he might be too angry and frustrated at losing Sasuke to let her make a connection when they interact. Perhaps Ino or Hinata, but I'd like it to be her love interest she bonds with and while I happen to like yuri, I don't know if you guys would...

(4)Don't anything, by the way :D

(5)Please review. I lose all motivation without support ; . ;


	2. Chapter 2

_"The Mouth of Justice is meditating wisdom, and his tongue is speaking of a sign. A happy man who suffers temptation, since he is with approval, they recieve the crown of life. Oh Lord, Fire by divine power, have mercy! Oh, how holy! How serene! How kind! How pleasant, oh Lily of chasitity."_ - English translation of first chorus of "Lilium", dervived from Latin.

--

**T**sunade mopped the sweat off her forehead and stuck her hands under the running faucet, splashing cool water over her face and letting it trickle down freely. Her brown eyes closed and she sighed, thinking sadly of how close the Inuzuka, Hyuuga and Akimachi had come to death. What really had hurt her was the sight of the Nara boy's tears when he'd reflected on his captaincy in the waiting room, and bandaging up the loud brat who remained unconscious under her anxious hands, his face twisted in a grimace of hurt. Tsunade had never thought the little brat could ever be quiet, conscious or no. It was scary how frightened she'd been when Naruto had come in Kakashi's arms, limp and bloody and defeated. It had taken that shocking sight for her to synche how her little brother Nawaki looked so much like him.

She thought, having the seen the flash of recognition on Jiraiya's expression, maybe her old teammate saw another blond student in his son's place.

She remained pensive, her sleeves rolled to her elbows as she kept patting her face with the water. None of this was right. She blamed the Uchiha brothers and their tendancy to brood and betray and of course, her own traitorous snakelike ex-teammate. Orochimaru's thin smirk formed in her mind, along with glowering poison-yellow eyes. Her hand curled into a tight fist. All her affection for him had soured years ago.

"Tsunade-hime?" It was Shizune. Dan's young niece. She looked paler than usual and her black hair was uncombed. Dark eyes raked over Tsunade critically and found something off, because her mouth immediately scrunched into a frown. Instead of asking 'are you okay?' she waited until Tsunade opened her eyes, giving her time to collect herself before Shizune spoke again. "The Sound prisoner has been moved onto the high-security block, cell 9. She hasn't woken up yet, but they restrained her to be safe," she reported.

Tsunade pushed her sleeves down. "Hasn't woken up yet? Has she healed completely or is the process lagging?"

Shizune looked strange. "They _didn't_ heal her, ma'am," she said with tones of annoyance seeping in. Tsunade cursed. "First Naruto, now her? Because of her allegiance?" asked the blonde, already knowing the answer. Shizune hesitated. "Actually ma'am... Her body seemed to be resisting their efforts and it was wasting chakra. They gave up."

Blinking once, Tsunade froze in the basin. Her apprentice squirmed when the brown-glazed gaze fixed on her.

"How could she not heal? Because of the snake bastard's seal?"

"No, ma'am. You'll remember Sasuke Uchiha healed quite easily despite the seal on his neck." Shizune stopped. The seal on the Sound girl's neck had had a Jounin slam a rather weak counter-seal over it, one designed differently from the Uchiha's to drain the girl's chakra instead of allowing her access to the excess stored in the fibres of the seal. Shizune had made a mental note to ask Kakashi-senpai or Jiraiya-sama to do one over it. After they'd made the counter-seal they had attempted to heal her but...

"Well?" Tsunade increased her stare heavily and Shizune flinched at the unweavering glower. "Why not?"

Shizune had never been aware she had a nervous habit of chewing her lip until a frustrated Tsunade had pointed out to her, shortly after the apprenticeship began. The blunt of her teeth ground over her fleshy bottom lip now. She didn't notice she was doing it, but later would spot a sore in the mirror. She was always too kind-hearted and worried for other's feelings to voice her own discomfort; something Tsunade had never trained her out of(and admittedly, never tried to. Too many loud, brash kunoichi filling the world anyway, herself included.)

"Um..." The younger woman averted her eyes to a shiny patch of lineoleum beside Tsunade's heels, where she told it, "Well, the medics claimed to be thrown back by some type of wind jutsu... Several were bleeding very badly before they healed themselves..."

"Wasn't the girl a little too unconscious to make a barrier like that?" Tsunade snorted. Already her doubts were draining. Shizune shook her head suddenly. "But m-ma'am! Perhaps some bloodline limit activated by their chakra-!"

Tsunade flicked her hand up to signal silence and Shinze fell quiet, obediantly. The older woman dragged out a long-suffering sigh, walking out of the bathroom with a clatter of heels and knowing that the faithful Shizune followed her. "I suppose I'll have to heal the little Sound ninja too... Maa, so tiring! What a bunch of troublesome brats!" growled the blonde Hokage.

Shizune let herself smile a little. "Ma'am, are you sure you aren't related to the Naras?" she teased. Her heart lightened as they passed by the marked doors and saw the names of the wounded placed on doors. Inside the young ninjas laid still and solemn, but alive, and young naive Shizune was happy for that.

Tsunade laughed at the joke and they descended down the hospital, into a spiral of stairs leading to the invalid criminal's quaters.

--

**C**lotted smells of blood and death flooded their noses before the last step. Shizune clapped her hands protectively over her tender nose but Tsunade's merely crinkled, and she kept walking in much the same bearing and pace. Her apprentice supposed she'd been in here many times when she was a younger shinobi of Leaf but Shizune had never been in a place with so much suffocating pain trapped in its low, sloping walls and small dirty cages.

The lighting was a flickering cable of fluorescence. They would have to squint to make out faces pressed to the transparent walls of the cages but they didn't bother, Shizune because instincts made her shy away from looking. If nothing else, Tsunade thought, Shizune had the true unspoken instincts of both a ninja and a human being. She was fond of her apprentice and so hurried them up, hiding her feelings with brisk words barked to the shaggy dark-haired woman.

"How are the Genins?" Shizune asked. Her soft heart worried for the immature gang of children that had went in with confident grins and were pulled out near-dead. She had been satisfied by the glance into their rooms that showed they were still alive but wanted to know Tsunade's irrefutable opinion.

Tsunade smiled, knowing what she was thinking. "Neji Hyuuga came in critical condition, as did Chouji Akimachi and Kiba Inuzuka. All were exhausted of nearly all their chakra and had some pretty severe hemorraging.

"Chouji was saved by a family jutsu technique and is being visited by his father and Team 8 right now, although he's still unconscious. Kiba Inuzuka has a team of highly-trained medics still working on some lesser wounds and I think his sister was helping him. While she worked on his little dog." Tsunade shook her head smiling, thinking of the rough-mannered girl that came tearing in, demanding to see her brother, and finally shutting up when she saw the damage. Tsunade thought it was to calm her nerves that the Inuzuka daughter had tugged Akamaru from the other veteranarians and worked their more compatiable healing chakra together, pausing sometimes to shout profain-laced encouragement at her baby brother and holding green-tinged palms over some jagged blood wounds. "The Hyuuga prodigy was even closer than the others; they almost didn't bring him here in time! His clan demanded they work on him separately and used some unusual technique like the Akimachi's. Well he's still in the ICU, but I know he'll pull through. That demanding guy didn't seem like one to die so easily. Like that loud-mouth brat," Tsunade said wryly. Affection was almost tangible in her voice. "The Sand shinobi are still here. They seem concerned that the ones they helped don't die. At least, I think that's the Jinchuuriki and his puppeteer brother's motive, but I think the sister might be growing fond of someone..."

Shizune smiled, feeling calmed by Tsunade talking so calm and lightly about them. That meant they would be okay. "What about Naruto-kun and Shikamaru-kun?"

"Shikamaru felt guilty over the mission but his father talked him through it. He's feeling up to visiting Chouji, even demanded to see the Sound girl to interrogate her himself." Tsunade snorted then became more somber. "As for Naruto...

"Well, his wounds have healed thanks more to the damn fox than those cowardly medics. And I think he'll get better after he adjusts to the disappointment from that Uchiha brat."

"Wasn't Uchiha Naruto's friend?"

Tsunade scoffed. "How long can a bouncy brat like that care about a traitor?"

_(Jiraiya crying after Orochimaru's betrayl, crying with Tsunade and swearing to her over alcohol that he'll get stronger and bring the snake bastard back. He got strong but he also got smart(er) and over thirty years have passed, Orochimaru is still gone and Jiraiya no longer aims to capacitate.)_

"He'll get over it," she went on, squashing the memory as soon as it popped up. Her eyes narrowed. "He wouldn't give up his dream for such a self-centered bastard."

_(Jiraiya doesn't wish on stars to be realized as the greatest of his Sannin team anymore; harder than anything, he wishes for his best friend back and things back like how they were supposed to be damn it, with his eyes closed expectantly and a child's faith in the universe for justice to notice him and right itself.)_

Shizune frowns but doesn't reply. Even she knows it isn't Sasuke and Naruto she's talking about anymore.

--

**I**t is to smells and dirt and darkness that she jerks herself awake to. Her eyes are blurry and a bad taste swims like copper in her mouth. Once the big boys had made her crunch and swallow a dying lizard. A taste like that had been in there too, except stronger, and she swallows a few times to clear her mouth. Something throbs on her cheek and a million tiny stings are on her face and arms, thousands of angry ants that have crawled under her skin. For a moment she actually believes insects _have_ wormed into her skin, and she tries to slap at her face to kill them.

Something strong and hard and cold snaps her arm back though. It circles over her wrist and doesn't let her move except an inch or so forward. When she does move it, she hears a slithering rattle sound and it bothers her frail ears so she stops. She has never liked loud sounds. Something similar enough to that strong feeling is around her other wrist and she guesses the same has happened to her other arm. They're stretched out and pinned to a wet wall she's pressed to that she can't see. Her legs feel numb, asleep under her, and all feeling has drained from them. Trying to move them was trying to move big limp pieces of rubber and she cries out softly at the sensation when she does try shifting them. But crying hurts too, in her chest.

It's so dark. Why can't she see? Her face hurts as badly as when the big boys hit her. Something caked on her cheek in a long streak cracks when she opens her mouth and she calls out for Higure. Higure promised to always help her, right? She sucked in tighter and shorter breaths as Higure didn't appear. Sometimes Higure dripped into her thoughts, always a calm voice, always a sympathetic one. Higure was the only one she could trust.

Where was she? Her thoughts were entirely her own and that loneliness scared her.

"Higureeee..." she wailed. Hearing footsteps, she paused with hot tears wet against her hurting face, and leaned eagerly into the cold toughness even though it hurt her wrists to do that. Her malnourished heart swelled with hope. "Higure? Higure-nee, lemme out!" she shouted into the darkness, a smile already breaking across her face. She could relax. Higure was here to help her and they could meet for real this time! She couldn't trust anyone but Higure, said Higure herself, and she was so right!

"I-Is she awake?!"

"Obviously. And conscious enough to answer questions too."

There were two women in the doorway. A pretty-looking lady with dark hair and eyes. And a granny with two long blonde pigtails. She felt the damp stinky air hit her eyes when they widened. The granny's chest looked so big! But her mouth looked tired and that made her look as mean and scary as the mean girls and the big boys. She was looking at her with an angry stare she recognized, and it made her duck her head. Her hair shielded her face and the tears rolled down again, in shiny clear drops that itched her eyes red.

They looked mad at her and she wanted Higure more than anything.

--

"**W**-What?!"

"Have wax in your ears? I'm not suprised. I said, we caught that troublesome flute girl. She was still alive somehow, even though she should have been diced by the troublesome fan girl's wind or crushed under the trees..."

"Does she know where Sasuke is!?"

"We don't know. She isn't awake yet. Calm down Naruto, you're still an invalid."

"I don't care! Where is she! I wanna talk to her right now! Cover for me Shikamaru!"

"N-Naruto!"

_Poof._

A Shadow Clone tucked snuggly in bed grinned cheekily at the Nara genius, who held his face in one hand and massaged his temples with his fingers. He was really regretting trusting Naruto's wounds to be severe enough to cripple him in bed a few more weeks. "I'm washing my hands of this. I don't accept any responsibility, got that?" Shikamaru told the Shadow Clone.

It laughed.

* * *

(1) I never saw the episode with the Sasuke Retrieval team's recovery in full. In fact, I glossed over the entire thing, but I saw glimpses of them from AMVs and pieced it together. If you know in detail how they were healed, please let me know(since you're probably as nit-picky as myself.) I'll fix it.

(2) Orochimaru is such a jerk. That flashback where Jiraiya remembered what Orochimaru said to him when he tried bringing him back? Sad. (Un)Fortunately, I have no vendetta against any character(although the only character I do dislike is Hinata)and I happen to like the Sannin team. They looked so Team 7 together, and it's painful to see history repeating itself once again as the dark genius breaks his team's heart and nearly breaks his best friend. So a little throw out to the old team. Rock on, old dead people.

(3) No. The mysterious Higure isn't related by blood. You'll learn about the Higure/Tayuya dynamic through the series and it eventually becomes an extreme issue that might tear our not-yet-formed-family apart!! D:

(4) Naruto is such a jerk. And Shikamaru should know better than to think mere flesh wounds can keep Konoha's Number One Knucklehead Hyperactive Ninja down for two seconds! I decided to stick that short part in because I like writing Naruto, felt it was too short a chapter, and I also decided on a spur-of-the-moment thing that Naruto should burst in to see Tayuya being "interrogated" by Batman and Robin! - er, Tsunade and Shizune! :D;;;

(5) As two personal notes, I have no school tomorrow(anyone in Florida know about the wildfire arsonist? My high school closed for protective measures since it apparently almost got burned)so I'll be attempting to work on this fic's next couple chapters, okay? Also, Sabby, if you're reading this - the terms are TOO New-Yorkian and Alaskaland. You crazy short dork. I'm Dutchlandian, and we know these things. :)

(6)Review. Ya' lazy bastards. :D


	3. Chapter 3

_"The Mouth of Justice is meditating wisdom, and his tongue is speaking of a sign. A happy man who suffers temptation, since he is with approval, they recieve the crown of life. Oh Lord, Fire by divine power, have mercy! Oh, how holy! How serene! How kind! How pleasant, oh Lily of chasitity." - English translation of first chorus of "Lilium", dervived from Latin._

_--_

**T**sunade was not a patient woman. It seemed she'd been a little more understanding when dealing with Nawaki, her younger brother, while he was alive. And again when she fell in love with Dan, she'd even shown some restraint to smashing Jiraiya's perverted mind through a nearby wall. Some assumed she became softer again, when Naruto came into conversation(Tsunade would deny this. In her mind she was that with Naruto because he was an idiot.) And of course when she saw people crying she would feel touched and her buried, not nonexistant, maternal feelings would urge her to comfort those people.

She had steeled herself for threats and insults, but not so many tears. The chained girl was sobbing against the wall. _Is this regret? Fear?_ Tsunade had no idea and to be honest, had never considered any of Orochimaru's minions to have a reaction like this. Shizune was shooting her a bewildered look. Neither of them had expected this, then.

_A trick?_

"Listen up." Out of the corner of her eye, Shizune started. The younger woman threw her a glance that asked plainly what she was doing, but Tsunade ignored her and kept talking. The girl didn't seem to be listening but increased her volume. It sounded like a two year-old throwing a fit because their toy broke. Tsunade saw under a fringe of hotly-pink bangs how red the girl's crumpled face was growing.

The blonde woman continued. "You're a prisoner of Konohagakure now, and from now on I'm forbidding any questions you might ask of your exact location, got it? Don't try moving either, and that's the medic talking, because judging by how you're angled you've got some busted ribs puncturing at least one organ. Your face is marked by blood, too. Some type of head wound. Too bad you wouldn't let us heal them. Those bleed the worst and you probably have a concussion. Your eyes are dialated enough.

"Besides, if you even tried fighting us, those chains around your arms are enforced with chakra and that seal on your neck's been suppressed. You can't draw any strength from it and if you even try, it'll drain your energy instead of giving it. Sounds bad right? Too bad for you, because I've known Orochimaru a lot longer than you have, and I know that snake bastard wouldn't bother trying to save you." _Everyone is a tool to him._

"Now it's time for you to answer some questions. We can't find your records so - Could you be _quiet_?" she asked, vexed. The girl hadn't stopped crying the entire time but Tsunade had plunged ahead anyway without a change in her tone. With a fresh wail to cut through her words, the blonde Sannin's cool demeanor suddenly broke.

Rattling her chains, the girl tried to hide her face in her hands but unable to move them, instead dipped her head, bangs covering her expression. Warm tears trickled around the curve of her cheeks and chin. They dripped on the floor, staining the dirty ground damply. She made a wet choked noise. "St-Stop _yelling_ at m-me!" she screamed. Her throat sounded very raw and the scream was shrill and loud.

Tsunade though about clapping her hands over her ears. "I wasn't ye-"

"You _were_! You were yelling at me like everyun' does!" she screamed, thrashing against her chains. Shizune flinched and started to move in front of Tsunade, fearing for her mistress's safety, but the blonde threw her a sharp look. The young apprentice stopped. Confusion was written clearly in her dark eyes.

The girl screamed louder and it nearly split everyone's ears. Struggling in her binds she threw herself to the extent the cuffs would allow, digging thin steel, like blades, into her soft wrists. Both the medic-trained ninjas, sworn by oaths to prevent injury and treat the wounded no matter who or what they were, cringed at the sight. "Stop that!"

"Lemme go! I'm _scared_!" shouted the girl. Tsunade's eyebrows crawled up her forehead. _Of... what? _She couldn't deny the very real fear glittering in the red eyes but surely she'd been captured before and hadn't broken down this quickly? A small ball of guilt knotted in her stomach. The girl looked as young as the Leaf Genin pale and limp on the operating tables above, and the possibility of the girl having a panic attack of some kind made itself known in Tsunade's mind. And her wounds really did look painful...

Shizune looked caught between anxious, and Tsunade wasn't sure if it was for them or the howling girl, and anger. "Calm down! Tsunade-hime is-"

The girl cut her off by an even sharper cry.

Having twisted her body like that had shoved her splintered ribs further into her organs, impaling herself as throughly as pushing a hot knife in butter. Her dialated eyes were wide before snapping closed, squeezing together as she coughed. Her body shook in violent coughs. She tried to say something but her voice choked into another fit of coughing, and droplets of organ's blood sprayed from her mouth.

Tsunade thought it sounded like "hurts."

Shizune made to head towards her but Tsunade put her hand up, signaling her to stop. Shizune hesitated between the girl thrashing again in agony and the woman she owed her loyalty and life to. "Tsunade-sama, please..." She stopped. Tsunade's warm hazel eyes were as pained as her own and the gloss-rubbed lips were pressed hard together.

"I know," said the blonde Hokage simply. It was enough to make Shizune's determined shoulders drop. Her dark gaze swiveled back to the girl, where Tsunade's weary eyes had been pinned the entire time. _Tsunade-sama..._

"W-What's going on, dattebayo?" a shaky voice echoed behind them. A familiar, shaky voice.

The girl gave another wretched scream as Tsunade and Shizune turned to see a wide-eyed Naruto. His bandages, flecked slightly with blood, stood in starkly on his paling skin. Tsunade wondered how bad the scene looked to his naive, soft-hearted mind. A young girl crying and screaming, couhging blood in her chains with neither of the medics making any move to help her.

His stunned silence didn't drag on too long, but the words were as painful as the palfable disappointment. "Why aren't you guys helping her!?" he shouted, fists balling in rage. In his mind were confused, angry thoughts. Granny and Shizune-chan were just standing there! That girl was obviously hurting and in his haze of anger, Naruto could see the teardrops shine wetly on the girl's distressed, bloody face as clear as day. That two people he liked and trusted to do the right thing putting people through pain was...

"What kind of doctors are you, 'tebayo!? You're supposed to help people and you aren't doing _anything_ to help her!!"

Unnoticed, the girl slowly ceased crying and started observing the going-on's with interest. What strange people! And such a loud, funny boy! She wanted to smile. _But you can't trust boys, ne? _a voice reminded her and she instead set her lips stubbornly. The big boys did the hitting and teasing and the girls made mean laughing that made the boys excited.

"N-Naruto-kun..." Shizune said quietly. She raised a hand as if to say "wait" then stopped, curling fingers disjointedly. It fell, like her head. Under shaggy black bangs Shizune was distraught. How did you explain this to such a naive boy, when she herself didn't understand Tsunade's plans? She was afraid of explaining it anyway; if they made him understand this girl, wearing a mask of cracked blood and harsh tears, was the same as the one he met with Shikamaru slowing their way to the Uchiha boy... Why, he'd probably jump her and demand she tell him where Sasuke was! He was too weak right now. He was still going through shock. And Shizune was also concerned for the girl herself.

Tsunade's mind ran with similar thoughts but she took ahold of the situation with a sad sigh. She jabbed a finger at Naruto, who fumed in the doorway with quaking shoulders and shouting accusations she didn't quite hear. "Shizune. Take him outside and _keep_ him out. Ask what ANBU were supposed to be guarding the doors that let him get in through their shift and get their names. I want to _talk_ to them later."

"Hai, Tsunade-sama." The younger woman bowed with relief. "Come on, Naruto. Let's go quietly." Naruto bristled even more. "Hold on! What's going on! Who is she! Why-"

Shizune grabbed a fistful on his starched green hospital shirt. She pulled him out the door, muttering "Come _ON_, you loud..."

Naruto's curses trailed out the door and it slammed behind them. Tsunade heard a lock click into place and when satisfied they were alone, whirled to look at the girl. She looked back with a genuine look of curiousity behind the blood and tears. The puffiness from crying was already ebbing from her face and she craned her head to look around. "Heeey. Where'd funny lil' boy go? He was really LOUD."

Tsunade blinked, utterly taken aback by the abrupt change in moods. _What the hell is going on here!? _She began, not for the first time, to curse her decision to take up being Hokage. Damn promises and love and that idiot fox kid.

"Do you mean Naruto?" she asked and wanted to smack herself in the head. Not only was it obvious, she just gave the girl information when it should be switched around. About a Jinchuuriki of their village no less!

The girl wrinkled her nose. "Nah-ru-to? What a weirdo name for a small mummy!" she declared.

Another possibility of an entirely different type of head trauma slunk in Tsunade's mind. Her hazel-amber eyes narrowed. "Do you _like_ Naruto?" she asked. "Are you even old enough to like boys?"

The girl scrunched her face and stuck her tongue out. "EW! Boys are GROSS! I only four, why'd I like dumb boys!" she said scornfully, or as much scorn as a four year-old (in mind) can inject into their voice. Her pain was forgotten in the face of this insult. Not only were boys infested with lots of wild animal diseases, but they were always mean to her! This lady had no idea boys were so mean. Like the old ladies at her orphanage. _Where AM I? _she wondered suddenly. Her heart felt washed in icy dark fear. She hadn't been listening before because she was sad Higure wasn't here and mad from how scared she was. She'd thought it'd been another trick from the mean old ladies at the orphanage.

"Wh-Where am I?" she asked in a small voice, feeling terribly scared all of a sudden. Her hands trembled and that made the chains rattle faintly in response. Her chest hurt _so much_... Like a fist punched inside her and moving around to get out. She felt something hard and sharp slide in something inside her. "Ow! I-It hurts so bad!" she cried out. Fresh tears melted down the stale tracks of the old ones on her face.

Tsunade eyed her with pity and finally the sight of what she now knew to be a scared, bewildered little girl crying made her motherly instincts take over. Walking over made the girl flinch in her shackles. She kneeled down and rubbed her hand over the girl's shoulder. The girl looked up with big frightened eyes. Tsunade smiled. Compassion warmed her amber eyes. "I'll make a deal with you, okay? I'll make the pain go away if you tell me your name. Deal?" _I'm not a very good gambler but I doubt I'll get beat out by the spirit of a four year-old..._

Wide-eyed, the girl stared at her before cringing at the pain flooding her abdomen. She nodded quickly. "Just make it stop! Please?"

Tsunade let her hands drift over the girl in a crackle of pure healing chakra. The girl seemed to bend her head to try and see the mint-green energy sink into her skin. Tsunade didn't see it but she felt as the bones were snapped from the lungs they'd punctured (_I almost murdered a little girl, almost made her drown in her own lung's blood, my gods...)_ and they knit together from where tree trunks that should have killed her instead crushed her ribcage onto itself. The holes in the soft pink lung tissue melted together, multiplying cells by a frantic number and letting blood slip back through proper veins as the blood pooling in the fixed lungs evaporated. The girl's breathing slowed as soon as the chakra glowed over her and gradually her breathing evened and she looked at her wounds heal like a spectator in a mildly-interesting competition.

"Magic?"

"Er, sure." _Kids have to have their dreams right, Nawaki? _Tsunade reached for the girl's head with intent to heal whatever bloody wound caused sheets of dried red to spill down her face, but the girl shook the hand off. "Don't touch that!!" Tsunade scowled disapprovingly. "Why not?"

The girl ducked her head, shyness written in bright red across her face. Tsunade was about to reach up anyway but sighed, hand falling. That wasn't the way to earn a battered kid's trust, so recently having gained it after "yelling" at her(She'd get it sneaking in when the kid was asleep.) "So." She shifted herself, smiling at the girl encouragingly as she could. "What's your name?"

The girl still looked shy and blushed, if anything, darker. "..." she muttered something quietly.

Tsunade frowned. "Eh?"

Which she shouldn't have done.

"TAYUYA!!" the girl burst out in a passionate display of her newly-healed lungs. How she'd cried so loudly before that was a mystery to medical genius Tsunade. The blonde fell back and slapped hands over her ears. "Okay okay! Your name is Tayuya!"

"I know how hard that is to write in kanji. You can say Tayu-chan instead," said Tayu-chan graciously. Tsunade nodded and smiled vaguely. She pushed herself up and headed for the door, feeling much more tired than she had coming down and promising herself a giant bottle of well-aged sake. "Tayu" could be investigated tomorrow for any knowledge although Tsunade doubted it'd get anywhere. The girl seemed as much of a dangerous Sound nin now as Konohamaru or one of the other brats.

"W-Wait! You aren't leaving me alone, right!?"

Tsunade raised her eyebrows. "Actually..."

Tayu looked pleadingly at her. "I dun' wanna be alone! Please! Higure-nee won't answer me, and-! Please!!" she cried out and to Tsunade's horror and guilt, more tears glittered in her eyes. _How does she still manage to crank out so many tears!?_

"Alright! Um, I'll send some company down here! Alright?" Tsunade invented quickly. _Baby-sitting an amnesiac Sound ninja who thinks she's four._ _C-Rank mission. B, tops. I'll have to paying for this out of my own money, won't I? Okay then, just D or C! _"Alright?"

"No kids my age, okay?" Tayu asked suspiciously. Children her age tended to make fun of the horns she'd narrowly avoided letting the nice lady see. Tsunade nodded and Tayu looked appeased, if not happy. She let herself limp in the shackles. "'M 'kay," she said, defeated.

The blonde Sannin threw another last smile over her shoulder before the heavy door closed behind her.

Tayu caught it and coveted it. She imagined it felt warm and bright in her hands but for some reason, she couldn't seem to feel anything over the first smile she'd earned, ever.

* * *

(1) Imagine Tayuya crying like that. Awww... I have a thing for kids throwing fits. For some reason, I find it adorable o.O I visited my mom's friend Karin last night(which is why I couldn't write this sooner)but I'm glad I did. Karin has two sons named Robert and Phillip and they're 8 and 4 years old. So cute! We all walked on the beach, looking for seaturtles when Robert ran up to each of us and told us to close our eyes and "fill your minds with LIGHT to find the turdles(turtles)!" We(me, my mom, Karin and Karin's husband) kept making fun of that. We kept muttering that to each other, especially Karin's husband and me(I was amazed at how much Karin/her husband share my personality), it just sounded so Kingdom Heart-ish. It was fun and it gave me ideas on how Tayuya might act.

(2) Speaking of that, no one get on my ass how Tayuya's not IC. This is a 4-6 year-old version of herself and they're perfectly entilted to being whiny, overemotional babies. She'll show hints toward her personality occasionally. Also, the rule with Nyuu/Lucy applies; anyone who strikes her hard on the head earns Tayuya's "pwn-ya-faceoff" attitude. And vectors. Tayu-chan can use vectors but only in extreme distress and they trigger Tayuya's appearence shortly after :D

(3) You might have noticed Shizune referring to Tsunade alternately as "-hime" and "-sama"(might not, because I like drawing attention to these things and giving people my reasons for doing them.) "-Hime" (most people take it as "-princess" and that's what it translates smoothest into) is Tsunade's title given by everyone and Shizune uses it talking to other people about her. "-Sama"("-master") is the honorific she uses when speaking directly to Tsunade. This may or may not happen in canon, but I don't care either way because I don't plan on figuring it out. I like the idea.

(4) "Small mummy"? Naruto is a shorty with bandages. And I meant to type all that bad grammar Tayu-chan says. That's all :) Aww. I got lazy and goofy to the end D:

(5) When I draw Tayu-chan, I make her bangs and hair stubbier; Tayuya is defined by her narrower, angrier eyes, a scowl or very evil smirk/grin, and very "sharp" pointed hair. Reference Tayuya or Lucy pics to understand the difference. Both look like that. Tayu and Nyuu both have much bigger anime eyes and childish, prominent expressions that you can easily read. They had stubby, softer-looking hair. (blathers on) Dunno. I felt like telling you all that because I have fun drawing Tayu(ya) and their differences :D


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